Airbase Vulnerability to Conventional Cruise-Missile and Ballistic-Missile Attacks: Technology, Scenarios, and USAF Responses
As part of a two-year effort to develop an expansive construct of air and space power in the early twenty-first century that capitalizes on forthcoming air and space technologies and concepts of operation and is effective against adversaries with diverse economies, cultures, political institutions, and military capabilities, the research team investigated the possibility that future adversaries might be able to mount effective missile attacks on U.S. Air Force (USAF) main operating bases in critical regions. This report does not assess the relative vulnerabilities of various force elements and facilities; instead, it aids the USAF in addressing a potential vulnerability of its in-theater bases: highly accurate attacks against USAF aircraft on parking ramps at such bases made possible by the proliferation of Global Positioning System (GPS) guidance and submunition warhead technologies. If such attacks are feasible, the current USAF operational concept of high-tempo, parallel strikes fro… More >>
Tagged with: Airbase • Attacks • BallisticMissile • Conventional • CruiseMissile • Responses • Scenarios • Technology • USAF • Vulnerability
This volume is based upon a RAND study conducted for the U.S. Air Force in 1997. The study had its origins in the lessons learned from Operation DESERT STORM in 1991, particularly in consideration of how a future opponent (unlike the rather ineffectual Iraqi Air Force)might attempt to use conventional or unconventional means to degrade USAF offensive capabilities. However, as the title suggests, most of the volume deals with the potential for either cruise missiles or ballistic missiles to be used to attack U.S. air bases.
The volume is divided into four main chapters: emerging threat technologies (cruise missiles, ballistic missiles), illustrative scenarios (using a Mideast scenario), defenses against the missile threat and standoff options. There are also three appendices: damage calculations for parked aircraft, a sortie-rate model and supersonic bombers. Overall, this volume is packed with charts, tables and data, but some of the analysis is a bit dated and the fact that it only examines missile threats limits the usefulness of this study. The heavy emphasis on Mideast scenarios may also be less relevant in other theaters, which may have either more robust airfield protection (e.g. Europe) or more austere, smaller strips (Asia). Obviously this volume is not designed for a wide audience, but it can be useful as an analytic piece for military professionals or national security specialists.